Blogs from Cuenca, South, Ecuador, South America - page 43

Had a quiet Saturday morning at home before heading into town to meet the others. We dragged them to the hat shop where we had coffee and brownies. Randomly enough there were huge pieces of paper and pencils out on the coffee tables so we were kept entertained by trying to come up with a poster and name for Jack's jazz group. Hung around in Cuenca before walking to Sophie's house (which took a good half an hour despite saying it would only be ten minutes) for her to get changed and joined the others for another walk, this time to the hotel Lyn was staying at. Lyn's husband and Charo were there as well for dinner and to discuss how our placements were going. Unfortunately some football team were also staying there so our ... read more

....We chose a hostel that was a hut with enough beds for us all, and that had a proper little wood burning stove! You actually had to chop your own wood with an axe that was left conveniently outside, and of course the boys loved displaying their masculinity with this task, so I didnt have to get involved...! And Kat took the role of fire woman, going through two boxes of matches massive notebooks worth of paper and a fair amount of egg cartons, with a scary, manic "If this fire doesnt do what its told I'm going to kill someone" look on her face, before managing to start a magnificent fire. Believe me, by the time night arrived, we knew exactly why there was a fire in our room, I have never been so ... read more

Ahh, Im almost scared to start writing this, breaking the silence of however long!....hmmm yeah sorry bout that, it has been very hard to get to a computer for long enough for various reasons, including the fact that the internet in the house is a SPAZZ! Firstly, just to get everybodies sympathy, I've been so ill! Haha, in fact the entirity of the "Cuenca crew" have been ill, and so in the past two weeks i have been to the doctors three times, the first two as moral support from Bel and Sophie, then I finally decided to give in, pay the $25 for an appointment, grrrr, and find out what was wrong with me....well apparently I have little tiny amebas living inside me making me sick, urkk, something to do with food/water, but now with ... read more

Hi folks im so sorry its been an absolute eternity since i last posted something but i have been just too busy. since i last wrote i have done 2 treks and a project in the andes. the firsat trek was the salkantaay trail which lasted 4 days and we rose up to 4600m above sea level. that trek was really demanding and is supposedly 40% harder than the inca trail. furthermore most people dont carry their equipment and hire donkeys but we managed to carry our rucksacks for the whole 4 days. the change in landscape was incredible. the first day was arid and surrounded by snowcapped mountains but from the second day on we were in the jungle which was just on the other side of the mountain. the weather was very hot and ... read more

Cuenca Samstag morgen um drei Uhr begann unser Ausflug ins Hochland, um den Tag komplett zu nutzen. Wir fanden auch gleich eine günstige Hippieabsteige, in der wir erst mal gemütlich frühstückten. Anschließend teilten wir uns auf, um die Stadt unsicher zu machen. Fazit der Stadtbesichtigung: sehr schöne Stadt mit 52 Kirchen, bunten Häusern, niedlichen Gassen, angenehme Menschen und einem Umzug (wahrscheinlich anlässlich des Stadtgeburtstages) Den Großteil der attraktiven Altstadt haben wir in wenigen Stunden besichtigen können. Sodass wir uns zur Mittagspause am rauschenden Rio Tomebamba niederließen und unsere mitgebrachten (Jausen-) Brote verspeisten. Am Nachmittag fuhren wir in das kleine Städtchen, ca. 35km nordöstlich von Cuenca. Nur Micha (der als Einziger im Bus geschlafen hat) konnte sich ab Mittag nicht mehr auf den Beinen halten und musste sich i... read more